Line-tools including chalk-lines, tape measures, and any other tool having an elongate free-end that is removably secured to an object are widely known and used. For example, chalk-lines are regularly used in construction to mark straight lines. Known chalk-line devices include a length of line with chalk coated thereon or imbedded therein wound on a spool and having a free-end. The spool is usually secured within a housing and includes a handle for winding the line on the spool. The free-end of the line usually has a rigid hook or ring for detachably securing the free-end of the chalk-line to the item to be marked.
In use, the line is unwound from the spool and pulled tight to form a straight line adjacent to a flat surface to be marked. With the ends of the line secured or otherwise held in place, the line is snapped by being pulled in a direction generally perpendicular to the surface and then quickly released. This snapping action makes the line collide with the surface, thereby releasing some of the chalk from the line and marking a straight line on the surface.
Similarly, known tape measure devices are used regularly to measure distances. Known tape measure devices include a length of generally flexible material with units of measurement denoted along its length, wound on a spool and having a free-end. Like chalk-line devices, the spool is usually secured within a housing and may include a handle for winding the flexible material on the spool. The free-end of the line usually has a rigid hook for detachably securing the free-end of the flexible material to the item to be measured.
In use, the flexible material is unwound from the spool and pulled tight to form a straight line adjacent to an area to be measured. The user then reads the units of measurement on the flexible material and adjacent to the desired locations to be measured.
The known means for securing the free-end of line tools involve considerable user time and attention. First, the user can pound a nail into the surface and secure the hook or ring to that nail; second, the user can secure the hook to the edge or lip of the surface; or third, the user can physically hold the free-end in place while attempting to use the line tool.
The first two options present a significant burden to the user who must then exert considerable effort to remove the hook or ring from its secured position. For example, in many construction situations, the hook or ring must be secured at the top of a tall wall with the line or flexible material extending several stories down the wall. After the user snaps the chalk-line or takes the measurement, the user must climb back to the top of the wall to remove the free-end of the line tool from its secured position. Such activity is time consuming and potentially dangerous. Similarly, the third option may not be possible if the user is working alone and is not able to secure the free-end of the line tool to an edge, lip, or nail.
Several inventors have attempted to improve the design of line tool hooks. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 1,408,347 to Currie and U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,337 to Noyes. However, neither of these references disclose or describe a device that improves on the known means for detaching a secured hook from the object to be marked or measured.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,408,347 to Currie discloses a tapeline holder having a U-shaped member, referred to as a clip, secured to a base positioned at the free-end of a tapeline. The clip may be swung upwardly from the base to prevent its engagement with the surface to be measured, or swung downwardly to permit it to engage and hold and edge or lip of the surface to be marked. The base also includes a barrel with a pin received therein. The pin may be extended or retracted from the barrel, and it may pierce the surface to be measured when extended to secure the free-end of the tapeline to that surface. The pin is spring-biased to its retracted position within the barrel, thereby keeping it out of the way when it is not in use.
The Currie hook device allows either the clip or the pin to secure the free-end of the tape measure to the surface to be measured. However, with the clip swung downwardly and engaging the edge of the surface to be measured, as with the pin piercing the surface, the user must physically retract the clip or pin in order to remove the engaged hook from the surface.
Similarly, the hook device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,337 to Noyes describes a rigid hook secured at the free end of a chalk-line. The hook itself includes a rigid body with a straight center section and perpendicular, oppositely directed end tabs. One tab is positioned over the edge or lip of the surface to be marked. However, the hook may be rotated about a pivot pin to allow the other tab to be secured to the edge or lip of the surface.
As with other known hook devices, the Currie device and Noyes device remain secured to the surface to be marked or measured following the marking or measuring. Accordingly, the user of either device must be able to physically reach the hook in order to release it from the surface being measured. As previously noted, often times it is difficult and time consuming for the user of line-tools, such as tape measures and chalk-line devices, to reach the hook to remove it from the surface to which it is attached.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a line-tool hook that may be easily secured to and released from a surface, even when the user of the tool is not able to physically reach the hook to release it.